A Town Called Valentine(98)

Monica nodded sympathetically.

“I’m enrolled at Berkeley,” Emily insisted. She rose to her feet to continue taking dirty dishes to the kitchen, refusing to meet her friend’s curious eyes.





Chapter Twenty-one



Wherever he was, whatever he was doing, Nate couldn’t get the image of Emily in that little lace number out of his mind. Not that he’d let her wear it for that long, but still . . . The lingerie stood for something—for Emily leaving. She might have a buyer for the building, then she’d be gone. Maybe he could wait until then to break up with her. That had been the plan all along.

But he was hurting her already. He knew she thought he’d go to the Sweetheart Inn with her. It was one thing to help her to take concrete steps to find her father, and another to be there while she met him. It would be a momentous, emotional moment for her, and he didn’t want to influence her opinions or decisions.

Tuesday morning, just after sunrise, Nate and his brother and sister were already up in the White River National Forest, riding their grazing allotment, looking for sick cows, broken fences, or evidence of coyotes or other predators. It was usually a peaceful time, with the weather breezy and cool on the mountain, the smell of pine as well as the grass so necessary to the herd. And so far they’d seen nothing unusual, were able to talk casually about a new saddle Josh had been commissioned to decorate, or the barrel racer coming to challenge Brooke. Nate enjoyed this time immensely, the feel of his horse beneath him that linked him to his ancestors and the land. He loved what he did.

“So Emily’s going to dinner tonight at the Sweetheart Inn—alone,” Brooke suddenly said.

Nate’s peace was shattered, and he glanced at her with a frown. “I know.”

“I thought you two were dating,” Josh said curiously.

“We are, but this isn’t a social evening.”

Brooke sighed and guided her horse around a tree stump. She briefly explained to Josh about the chance that Joe Sweet was Emily’s biological father.

Josh whistled. “This must have been tough for her. And you helped?” he asked Nate, eyeing him with amusement.

Nate shrugged, feeling grim.

“You are so easy to read,” Josh said, shaking his head. “You’ve been rattled by one little mistake for the rodeo.”

“Little?” Nate echoed icily.

Josh ignored him. “It’s not because you’ve been with Emily. I can tell you want to go with her tonight, so why are you resisting?”

Nate didn’t answer, and knew Brooke was eyeing him in the way of little sisters who are about to savor something to use over a big brother’s head.

“Don’t sacrifice a good relationship for work, Nate,” Josh continued quietly.

Apollo shook his head and danced sideways, giving Nate a welcome distraction.

“Look, we’re dating, we’re not in a relationship,” he said at last. “We’ll be ending it soon, and it’s better that she not get used to confiding everything in me.”

“Hey, she’s got me, too!” Brooke said. “But I think I understand where you’re going, and I don’t like it. You want to break up with her already, don’t you?”

“That’s between me and Emily,” Nate said impassively.

“Why?” she asked, as if she hadn’t heard him. “You’re having fun, so’s she.”

“It’s not always about fun, it’s about people not getting hurt.”

“And he doesn’t mean himself,” Josh told her.

Brooke snorted. “I already knew that.”

“Thanks,” Nate said dryly.

“Wait,” Josh interrupted, standing up in his stirrups. “Is that fence near the creek leaning sideways?”

“Must be elk again,” Nate said. “Brooke, write it down.”

“How does the girl become the secretary?” she asked with sarcasm, pulling a little notebook out of the breast pocket of her vest.

“It’s because you’re the youngest, not because you’re a girl,” Josh told her.

They guided their horses along an overgrown path, tall grass slapping their chaps.

“Back to Nate,” Brooke said, putting away her notebook.

Nate winced. “Must we?”

“So you think Emily’s going to get hurt,” she continued thoughtfully. “Is she falling in love with you?”